Unitarian Church of Montreal

Children get a sense of belonging

We light the flame of religious education
to learn with open minds
to teach with helping hands
and loving hearts

Children are cherished members of our religious community. The goal of our all-embracing religious education program (RE) is to provide children and youth with experiences that promote their spiritual growth and intellectual curiosity. Led by dedicated teachers, under the direction of Caroline Balderston Parry, RE classes nurture each child, while fostering friendships, ethical concerns, and a sense of belonging to one other, to our church community, and to the world outside our walls.

Our 2009-2010 religious education (RE program)

Wondering which Religious Education (RE) group your child fits into this year?  We have something for babies through teenagers heading into young adulthood. Read on to find where your little - or big - ones fit into our set-up for the 2009-2010 year.

What's up in religious education this coming year?

Download 2009-2010 RE Calendar

Steady Attendance Makes a Real Difference

Come join this community regularly!  We hope to see you and your child/ren here often at the Unitarian Church of Montreal.  And let us know how we can further support your family.

Spirit Play helps children connect with inner self

After the May, 2009 successful Spirit Play training session and conference, our church now has 15 educators trained in this exciting new approach to religious education. Adapted from the Montessori school model and Jerome Berryman's Godly Play, Spirit Play helps children slow down and listen to their inner selves.

Come Play With Us!

Melani Litwack runs the playgroup, which meets twice a week, and is a much-needed outing for new parents as well as those with more experience - we all need some adult interaction during our busy days! She took some time to tell us more about this vital service in our church.

New Children's Music Program

The Religious Education Committee is starting a Children’s Music Program to maximize fun and opportunity, and minimize stress and time commitment. Our program will be about the joy of music for 6- to 10-year-olds. We hope to have frequent short songs for the children to play/sing, for chalice lightings, for the time of all ages, and other occasions. Read on for upcoming events. For more information, contact Shawn Dohring.

Garden and Primers Classrooms Enjoy Spirit Play

Our director of religious education (DRE), Caroline Balderston Parry, has been hard at work incorporating Spirit Play into our childrens' lives.

Here's how it works: The children all leave the Sanctuary together, but instead of going straight to their rooms, we all congregate in the foyer outside the Garden Room so that the day’s storytellers and doorkeepers can be introduced – we hope the children will get to know more adults’ names this way, as well as having more relationships with adults at UCM.

We celebrated Earth Day with a multigenerational service

Sunday, April 19, 2009 was our annual multigenerational service to celebrate both Earth Day and what the young people in our Religious Education - or RE - groups are doing this year. Our RE director, Caroline Balderston Parry, is delighted that we can link up our year-long, program-wide “Being Peacemakers” theme of RE, which we decided on soon after her arrival last August, with this celebration, called “Making Peace on Earth.”

Play and explore

Our nursery is for children up to 3 years old and our Garden Class welcomes children age four years old through Grade One. 

Our Whole Lives for Younger Children

Our Whole Lives (OWL) is the Unitarian Universalist Association's sexuality education for different age groups. It equips participants with accurate, age-appropriate information in six inter-related subject areas such as human development and relationships.

In February-March, 2009, we held an after-service program for parents and Kindergarten to Grade 2 children. We hope to hold a similar after-service program for children in Grades 5 and 6 in February-March 2010. For more information, contact dre@ucmtl.ca

Spring Will Come

Here are the lyrics for Spring Will Come, by Howard Kaplan. It's just one of many songs we've added to our vast repertoire of music.

I have heard that the mother beaver, 
Feeling crowded within her den, 
Wants to know when her sons will leave her, 
For she soon is to bear again. 
Two long years they have shared her shelter: 
Mud and branches, a floor, a dome.
When the ice dams begin to melt, her 
Sons will leave for another home.        
Tell the beaver the sun is returning.         
Tell her, too, that you heard it from       
One whose kind has been granted this learning:        
Spring will come. Spring will come.   
I have heard of the bear complaining  
That the winter is far too short. 
Days of spring that are warming, raining 
Come too soon, by the bear’s report.
Light and dry, like a falling feather, 
Snowflakes pile; the drifts are deep.
Melting rains and the warmer weather 
Flood his den to cut short his sleep.       
Warn the bear that the sun is returning.        
Tell him, too, that you heard it from       
One whose kind has been granted this learning:        
Spring will come. Spring will come.

Peacemaking, diversity and community

We had in 2008-2009 a variety of programs focusing on peacemaking, diversity and community for our children aged 7 and older.